The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested three persons suspected to be part of a car fraud syndicate in the Kumasi Metropolis. They are Osei Abrokwah, 32, Daniel Kofi Yirenkyi, 35 and Emmanuel Kwasi Anane, 32.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Godwin Ahianyo, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), told the media in Kumasi that the main targets of the suspects were car dealers.
He said their modus operandi was to approach unsuspecting car dealers and feign interest in purchasing a particular vehicle after which they would issue a cheque, promising it would mature in three working days.
He said they would deliberately leave the documents of the vehicle with the dealer with the excuse that they would come for the documents after the cash had been cleared, which is a just a ploy to win the confidence of the dealers.
ASP Ahianyo said the suspects would later prepare a forged document to cover the vehicle, send it to a prospective buyer at a different garage and use it to acquire a loan from the buyer, using the vehicle as collateral.
According to the ASP Ahianyo, the suspect would then call the original owner of the vehicle and inform him that the vehicle has been left at a particular garage and he can go for his vehicle because they are no more interested.
The owner of the vehicle would go to the garage only to discover that the vehicle has been used as collateral to secure a loan from the second victim.
The PRO said luck eluded the suspects on March 26, when police acting upon a tip-off about their activities arrested them.
He said preliminary investigations by police revealed that they had swindled quite a number of car dealers and other people in the Kumasi Metropolis and other parts of the country.
He said the suspects were also involved in the diversion of truckloads of rice, beans, sugar and cashew nuts.
He called on all persons who may have fallen victims to the suspects to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), to assist in investigations.
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